Moayad Salami left his destroyed home city of Homs a month ago for Russia. Despite having heard horror stories of beatings en route – a friend had had his leg broken – and failed attempts to cross the border, the 36-year-old Syrian’s plan was to go to Poland via Belarus to seek safety for himself and his family in the EU.
But when Salami got to Moscow, a smuggler on Telegram informed him that a safer and easier route had opened up. For $3,000 (£2,400), he was told, he could get straight to Finland. No boats or beatings by border guards. All he had to do was get to St Petersburg and the rest would be taken care of. The smuggler even claimed to have an agreement with the Russian military.
